Mail and Guardian reports that the National Minimum Wage Commission has recognised that the minimum wage for domestic workers should be increased to be at the same level as that of all other workers.

Domestic workers include gardeners, drivers and people who look after children, the aged, sick, frail and disabled in a private household and, of course, house workers. Domestic workers’ minimum wage was, under the National Minimum Wage Act of 2018, set at 75% of the national minimum wage and was increased to 88% in 2021.   In 2021, the minimum wage for domestic workers was R19.09 an hour while for everyone else it was R21.69. This is a 12% difference. In early January, the Department of Employment and Labour announced that a majority of commissioners recommended the national minimum wage should be increased by one percentage point above inflation, which would take the 2022 rate to R23 an hour, up from R21.69. The commission also recommended that, in 2022, the minimum wage for domestic workers should be increased to be in line with the national minimum wage of all workers. The updated minimum wage for domestic workers is expected to be published in the coming months after the commission takes inputs and recommendations on minimum wage adjustments. The proposed 2022 minimum wage of R23 an hour equates to R3,680 for eight hours of work for a five-day week. Nontobeko Mdhluli, the owner of placement agency Nanny Maids SA, said the new minimum wage was reasonable. Florence Sosiba, a domestic worker and president of the SA Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union, commented that if the minimum wage was increased to that of other workers, they would feel recognised.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Anathi Madubela at Mail & Guardian

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